Refurbished Mysuru Rail Museum back on track
3 min readMysuru: The expanded and renovated Rail Museum at Yadavgiri in the city is now open.
H Ashwathanarayana, a long-serving employee of Mysuru Rail Museum inaugurated the refurbished museum in the presence of Ajay Kumar Singh, General Manager, South Western Railway, P K Mishra, Additional General Manager, South Western Railway, Aparna Garg, Divisional Railway Manager, Mysuru and other Senior Officials of HQ and Mysuru Division of South Western Railway.
The Maharani’s Pavilion housing the vintage saloon of the Royal family of Mysuru and a rich collection of photographs and a working model of steam engine was also opened by G Mala, a veteran staff of the Railway Museum.
The general manager took a joy ride in the toy train along with officials and children of Railway officers assembled at the venue.
In her opening address, Aparna Garg said that City of Mysuru has a rich heritage and over a hundred years of railway history, which inspired her to undertake the daunting task of refurbishing the Rail Museum with a dedicated team of Officers and supervisors. It was an uphill task given the not-so-good condition of the Museum but persisted with her mission to radically transform the Museum drawing strength from Bhaghawad Gita, she quoted 11th Shloka from 7th Chapter.
Using contemporary style of architecture with large swathe of greenery to provide more opportunities to visitors to explore the artifacts and enhance their experience and knowledge about the glorious past of the Railways in the region was uppermost in her mind.
She thanked the Zonal Railway authorities for walking an extra mile in providing clearances and budgetary support to realize the dream of making Mysuru Rail Museum one of the best and on par with global standards.
Shanthi Babu Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer Mysuru Division gave a brief overview of the Museum.
Museum now has an improved circulating plan, better amenities, interactive components, new indoor galleries, amphitheatre and a reference library. Design has ramp features which makes it accessible to physically challenged and spacious parking.
Ajay Kumar Singh, General Manager congratulated the Divisional Railway Manager Aparna Garg and team Mysuru for their excellent work in reshaping the museum.
All noble thoughts to envision a great piece of work bring success no matter what the obstacles are is a classic example of what the DRM has achieved, he said.
Expressing his profound appreciation of the outstanding work done, he announced individual and group awards to the team of officers who have been instrumental in bringing out this creative masterpiece.
A special postal cover brought out by India Post commemorating the opening of the renovated museum was released on this occasion. Rail Museum brochure was also released during the function.
P K Mishra, Additional General Manager , South Western Railways outlined the historical perspective of the formation of the Railways in India, especially construction of railway lines in the Princely State of Mysuru in the late 19th century for famine relief work.
H C Sadananda, Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Mysuru Division also spoke on the occasion and exhorted Railway authorities to commemorate other mile stones as well.
The general manager was taken on a tour of the various new facilities created in the Rail Museum such as Restaurant Coach, Audio-Visual Room tracing the evolution of Railways in this region, the watch tower, sections exhibiting vintage artifacts belonging to signal & telecommunication, operations, civil engineering, philately and other wings of the Railways.
A Devasahayam, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Mysuru proposed the vote of thanks, according to Priya Shetty
Divisional Commercial Manager and PRO.
– Team Mysoorunews